Last BIG Harvest of the Season

Even though we've got another small heat wave rolling in this weekend, autumn is still coming..time to start thinking about cleaning up the garden and trimming back landscaping around the house.
This will be the last big tomato harvest of the year. Which is sad and fantastic all at the same time. My freezer can't take ANY MORE tomatoes!

Had about five gallons harvested when the dust settled. I also trimmed the plants back quite a bit - hopefully they'll get a little more sun and air this way, and they can focus on ripening the fruit that's still left on the vine. Not sure where I'll put all the fruit that's left on the vine..but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So happy :)

This is what we were starting from: the original beadboard barrel vaulted ceiling over the front door.
This was uncovered when we removed the steel siding and aluminum trim. I had seen it in old pictures of the house and wanted to put it back in place - luckily, it was still there! Dad attempted to remove the chipping paint, but this was more of a job than anyone wanted. So we installed new, freshly primed and painted beadboard in its place!

The underside of the overhang (and the wood face with the arch cut out) was wrapped in the same PVC I used for the trim everywhere else. This will be resistant to rot and will hopefully last a really long time!

After using a plumb bob to find where the center of the pillar would be, we got to drilling the hole for the lag bolt that would secure the base to the step. We actually just expanded the holes from the previous bolt holding the iron posts in place, which was much easier than drilling an entirely new hole in this solid old mortar.

One down. And the roof didn't even fall in! ;)

After bolting and gluing a piece of pressure treated (and primed) lumber to the step, we wrapped it in PVC and made this base to support the new pillar. We used a spade bit to drill a hole down into the base to receive a wooden dowel. There's a corresponding hole in the top plate as well. 

Voila! Snapped into place and fit perfectly on the first try!
We glued the dowels and pre-drilled and counter sunk four screws into the top and bottom of each pillar.
You could hang a (tiny) hammock from these babies!

On pillar (and day) number two, I started out solo when Dad was called into work.
Since we had already done all of the hard work in trying to figure out how best to do this job, the second pillar went much quicker!

My grandpa came over after we had lunch and helped me trim a half-inch off the bottom of the second pillar.
I failed to account for the the slope in the step from side to side to help with water runoff...so one of the bases is a tad higher than the other if you look closely.
No matter, though...we trimmed the pillar, installed the dowels into either end, and snapped this one into place all the same!

I couldn't stop looking at these yesterday - I was so happy with how everything turned out!

Mom and I filled the screw holes, sanded away any excess, and caulked all the joints or seams all around the ceiling, arch, and top and bottom of each column. After a coat of paint, this is going to look even better than it already does.
HUGE thanks to everyone who helped! This was the last big construction project around the house and it was such a weight off my shoulders to actually have these popped into place and finished that I was all of the sudden really inspired to throw down grass seed and start focusing on this ratty looking lawn of mine! ;)

Tomato Harvest

A couple of my heirloom tomatoes finally came around!
The big guy on top is an Italian Heirloom, in the top corner is a handful of Cherry Romas, the Russo Sicilian (look at the seeds on this one - it was like cutting open a bell pepper), and a Black Krim that I probably picked a couple days early but couldn't wait for :)

6 AM

Since I never really see the outside (or inside) of my house at 6am, I've never really seen it in this light.
From this angle, it almost looks like things are coming together! ;) 

Blooms on my new hydrangea on the front corner. 'Limelight'

Moonflower getting ready to close back up for the day.

My succulents hanging out, looking pretty. :)
At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the little sprigs that were grown from cuttings and recently transplanted into this large metal bowl. So far, so good!

Inspiration

After coming back from California, I was just so ready to try new things here in Iowa. I've done a little research about hardy varieties of fig and am playing around a little more with my succulents.
In finishing up some of the detail paint work on the backside of my house, I came to a point about halfway through the back wall where the neighbors' peach tree was starting to grow over the fence. She and I had talked about it and she was going to trim them back. After checking with her to make sure it was OK, I snipped off a couple smaller shoots, shaved off a little bark near the cut end of the branch and coated it with rooting hormone, and potted it.

It's going to look a little sad for a while, but hopefully the cut end of this shoot will send out new roots and take hold in the pot. I amended the soil with a little organic fertilizer before planting, firming, and watering the branch. If it doesn't work, at least it hasn't cost me anything...if it DOES work, I'll have my own peaches a couple summers from now!

It's that time of year, again!

Mine all mine!
This was my first good sized tomato harvest this year with several varieties to sample:
Italian Heirloom, Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Cherry Roma, and more!
I purchased the tomatoes as small plants from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa and it's been fun to watch them grow and produce in a BIG way!

Californ-i-a: Food

We had some really great food in California. Some of it had it's picture taken..some of it was devoured before I remembered.
In addition to In-N-Out Burger and some of the traditional stuff like that, we ate at a couple really cool little local spots. This one was called Back Abbey - a little British-inspired pub with nice outdoor seating.

I had the Back Abbey with fries and a French beer :)
The burger was ridiculous: Angus beef, Nimon Ranch bacon, caramelized onion, garlic aioli
I was really excited about the fries, too..fried in duck fat. I've heard good things, and they didn't disappoint.

The bakery in Claremont has been around for nearly 100 years. It's currently operating as Some Crust Bakery and makes everything by hand with local and organic ingredients.

My breakfast sandwich: turkey, egg, cheeses, garlic aioli, avocado, and red onion on homemade sourdough. Delish!

I want this life.

One of the coolest things was picking fruit from the edible landscape at the Claremont Colleges. It's all organic, and there for the picking if you're a student. Luckily, we had one :)
I don't think I had ever had figs before...now I think I need to plant some!

Olive trees on campus - so pretty!

The allee of oranges. Megan says campus smells amazing when the citrus blossoms are out.

Pitzer College had a really great little student-run garden complete with chickens, bees, and a mini-orchard.

Little pomegranates ripening away.

A good day's work! Plums, lemons, oranges, apples, a pomegranate, a persimmon, avocado, limes, and figs.
Our need to eat out went down drastically after this :)

Megan and I were playing with figs..so cool!
This is fig, prociutto, and chevre pizza with caramelized onions, a balsamic reduction and arugula. So. Good.

Figs wrapped in prosciutto. We tried it roasted and un-roasted, and we both preferred roasting.
We also tried it with some capicola and thinly sliced salami...it was all great!
We also tried a couple internet recipes: sauteed figs in honey butter (good) and figs sauteed in brown sugar butter served with sweetened mascarpone cheese, a balsamic reduction, and honey butter (AMAZING!)